Strikeoff rod

ABSTRACT

A strikeoff rod comprising an elongated hollow member having two walls intersecting generally at right angles to each other. Each of said walls has a beveled portion sloping inwardly starting on a line parallel to but spaced from the intersection of said walls. The extremities of said walls are remote from said intersection, and are connected by an undulant wall.

United States Patent Haivala [54] STRIKEOFF ROD [72] lnventor: WilliamS. l-laivala, 1716 N. Gabin,

Wichita, Kans. 67212 [22] Filed: May 8, 1970 21 Appl. No; 35,631

[52] US. Cl ..15/235.4 [51] Int. Cl ..E0lc 10/12 [58] Field 0iSearch........15/235.4,235.7, 235.5; 94/45;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Levy ..l5/l05 X 1 Feb.1,1972

3,082,460 3/1963 Haivala l5/235.4

Primary Examiner-Leon G. Machlin Attorney-Berman, Davidson and Herman [57] ABSTRACT A strikeoff rod comprising an elongated hollow member havingtwo walls intersecting generally at right angles to each other. Each ofsaid walls has a beveled portion sloping inwardly starting on a lineparallel to but spaced from the intersection of said walls. Theextremities of said walls are remote from said intersection, and areconnected by an undulant wall.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB! 8972 3,638,273

I v W/LL/AM 5. HAN/ALA,

STRIKEOFF ROD The tool of this invention is designed especially for usein the cement or concrete finishing trade. A wide variety of such toolsare available and are used to level off freshly poured concrete to thesame elevation as the top of the forms or screeds between which theconcrete is poured. In the trade, such tools are known as strikeoffrods" and the present invention has been so entitled.

After the wet concrete is poured, the strikeoff rod is placed as abridge between the two forms and is then dragged lengthwise of the formswith any excess of concrete being removed ahead of the tool, thusleaving the required slab thickness between the forms. This operation isnormally performed by two men, one on each end of the strikeoff rod.

The slab to be leveled will range in width from 2 or 3 feet to more than20 feet and since the screed must exceed in length the width of the slabto be leveled, there arises a rather complicated problem in providing astrikeoff rod which will combine, in the greater lengths, the qualitiesof rigidity and light weight.

An object of this invention is to provide a strikeoff rod which willcombine the qualities of corrosion resistance, light weight and rigiditytransverse its length.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a strikeoff rod asaforesaid so designed as to afford comfortable handgrips for theoperator.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a strikeoff rod asaforesaid which may be reversed to operate in either directionlengthwise of the supporting forms merely by turning the same through90.

The above and other objects will be made clear from the followingdetailed description taken in connection with the annexed drawing, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the improved strikeoff rod with one ofits active faces in the foreground;

FIG. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view taken from the opposite side of FIG. 1.

As best seen in FIG. 2, the rod of this invention is a seamless hollowstructure, preferably extruded of aluminum or magnesium or alloys ofaluminum and/or magnesium, but in any case of lightweight metal. It hasan active face 10 intersecting at right angles, a second active face 12.A dotted line 14 has been drawn in FIG. 2 to illustrate the relationshipto the face 12 to the top of the concrete forms and in use the deviceshown in FIG. 2 travels from right to left on its initial levelingoperation with excess concrete collecting against the face 10 and beingforced into depressions in the freshly poured slab.

It will be noted that the faces 10 and 12 intersect along the line 16.It will further be noted that somewhat to the rear of the line 16 theface 12 is joined by an auxiliary planar face 12' which is slightlyinclined to the face 12, the angularity being in the general order of 2to The face is provided with a similarly inclined portion 10.

A planar section 18 adjoins the margin of the section 10' while asimilar planar section 20 adjoins the margin of the section 12'. Theextremities of the sections 18 and 20 are joined each by concaveinwardly directed sections respectively designated 22 and 24. Thesections 22 and 24 are joined by an inwardly directed generallysemicylindrical section 26.

With the device of FIG. 2 and advancing from right to left, as viewed inthat figure, the operators (one at each end of the strikeofi rod) willexert pressure against the surfaces 22 and 24 primarily in the right toleft direction to ensure that the surface 12 remains parallel to theline 14. This is the roughing-out pass. At the end of the pass, if it isdesired to provide the freshly poured slab with an even smoothersurface, the device is rotated counterclockwise around the line 16 tobring the surface 10 parallel to the line 14 and a pass is then madefrom left to right. In this case, however, the operators exert strongdownward pressure against the surface 22 to bring the surface 10parallel to the line 14 with the surface 10 angled slightly upwardlyfrom the surface 14. This has the effect of pressin downwardly on anyraised portions of the freshly poured sla and produce a leveling effectwith excess material passing under the surface 10' rather thancollecting in front of the sur face 12.

To prevent concrete entering and building up in the hollow tubularstructure and thereby increasing the overall weight, it may bedesirable, as best seen in FIG. 3, to provide each end of the structurewith a cover plate 30 shaped to conform to the cross section of thetubular structure and secured by welding, brazing or any other suitablemeans.

While certain specific structural details have been illustrated herein,no doubt various structural modifications will occur to anyone skilledin the art who may peruse this disclosure. Accordingly, the invention isnot to be limited to the precise details disclosed.

What is claimed is:

1. A strikeoff rod for smoothing freshly poured concrete, said rodcomprising: an elongated, tubular member of uniform cross sectionthroughout its length, said member having two planar faces integrallyintersecting at right angles to each other,'the extremities of saidfaces being integrally joined by an undulant wall, said wall havingoutwardly convex contours adjacent said surfaces and an inwardly concaveportion joining said convex contours, said planar faces beinglongitudinally divided substantially equally to form planar portionsinwardly inclined relative to the face of which they form a part.

2. The device of claim 1, including cover plates secured at each end ofsaid rod to close said tubular member, said plates being contoured toconform to the cross section of said member.

1. A strikeoff rod for smoothing freshly poured concrete, said rodcomprising: an elongated, tubular member of uniform cross sectionthroughout its length, said member having two planar faces integrallyintersecting at right angles to each other, the extremities of saidfaces being integrally joined by an undulant wall, said wall havingoutwardly convex contours adjacent said surfaces and an inwardly concaveportion joining said convex contours, said planar faces beinglongitudinally divided substantially equally to form planar portionsinwardly inclined relative to the face of which they form a part.
 2. Thedevice of claim 1, including cover plates secured at each end of saidrod to close said tubular member, said plates being contoured to conformto the cross section of said member.